United States activates health declaration for international flights

The United States began requiring a health declaration from passengers on international flights bound for the country. The measure applies to people boarding anywhere in the world and took effect for flights departing at or after 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on November 3, 2026. The requirement calls for travelers to sign a document concerning any recent presence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

In the declaration, passengers must certify that they were not in the African country during the 21 days before travel. The procedure therefore focuses on the recent exposure identified by the rule, not on the country from which the flight departs. It covers travelers of any origin flying to the United States on an international flight.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention established the requirement. The provision was published in the Federal Register on October 27 and based its application on flight departure time rather than a different date for every country of origin. From the stated cutoff, the requirement extends to passengers boarding international flights to the United States.

The stated purpose of the measure is to reduce the risk of the Ebola virus being introduced into U.S. territory. The declaration adds a specific question to travelers' health checks: whether the person was in the Democratic Republic of the Congo during the previous three weeks. The response must be certified by signing the document required of passengers covered by the rule.

The health requirement is broad with respect to flight origin, but it retains the conditions that the destination is the United States and the route is international. The start date and Eastern Time cutoff establish when the declaration became mandatory. The measure links the procedure to a 21-day period and presence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo as part of Ebola prevention.